Safety Days: How to
host your own comprehensive
safety training event

Washington County, NY Safety Days

Each year, Washington County hosts an innovative safety training event known locally as the Washington County "Safety Days." This highly popular training event combines multiple safety training topics with an active, organized approach. By using creativity and a unique approach to training, Washington County is able to train over 200 local public workers over the course of 2 days on a wide variety of subjects.

Movement

The safety days are specifically designed for the outdoor, hands-on crowd. In order to capture the attention of the trainees, participants are organized into smaller units that rotate to different training stations throughout the Washington County Fairgrounds.

These groups arrive at stations that feature a particular safety topic presented for no more than 45 minutes before an air horn sounds and moves the group on. The combination of movement and variety keeps the audience engaged and attentive throughout the day while allowing participants to receive instruction on a wide array of safety topics.

In place of stuffy indoor training rooms, the Washington County fairgrounds offer open air facilities, fresh air and sunshine. If bad weather moves in, the fairgrounds have plenty of large dry spaces with power so the show can go on! Overall the entire event lasts from 8:00 to am 1:15 pm.

Interactivity

All of the Washington County Safety Days training stations present important information on a variety of topics but, in addition to formal presentations, presenters engage the audience with demonstrations, discussions, and challenges.

Here is a list of the topics covered at the 2018 Washington County Safety Days:

Temporary Traffic Control Devices

Incipient Fire Training

Initial Response/First Aid

Chainsaw Safety

Hazard Awareness Topics

DOT Roadside Check

Training Doesn't Have To Be The Enemy Of Fun

In addition to training presentations, attendees are invited to participate in extra skills challenges such as a heavy equipment precision exercise or a snow plow rodeo competition course. 50/50 drawings are also held and a BBQ chicken lunch is served at the end of the day.

Build Partnerships, Plan, and Organize

Recruiting a dedicated group of volunteers and building partnerships has been key to the success of the Washington County Safety Days. Local police and first responder personnel, state police, NYSDOL, and national grid are just some of the groups and individuals who help make safety days happen.

Thank You

The Cornell Local Roads Program would like to thank Phil Spiezio and the Office of the Washington County Safety Officer for their assistance in compiling the information on this web-page and their continued commitment to workplace safety.

Toolkit

Below are some checklists you can use to organize and execute your own local safety days style training event.